Arts courses at the Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley honor early advocate

TROY -- In tribute to the artistic and local legacy of an early advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, the Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley (ILCHV) is fostering new arts programming to be known as "Pat's Place."

Named for Patricio "Pat" Figueroa, the Center will now offer classes in the fine and performance arts, graphic design, storytelling, and myriad of other classes focusing on creative endeavors. A dedication of the programs will be held today at 4 p.m. at the center, to be accompanied by the first of a commemorative lecture series.

Figueroa, who died April 3 from complications resulting from surgery on a minor injury, was a force for the creation and promotion of disability rights in the state and the nation.

"He was a fighter, I think, probably from birth," explained his wife, Denise A. Figueroa, with a smile. Seated in her office at ILCHV's new location at 15-17 Third St., Denise detailed a life that began with strife.

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The fourth of ten children, Patricio was born in Cataño, Puerto Rico, without any substantial medical equipment or knowledge, and was diagnosed at birth with spina bifada, a congenital developmental disorder. Growing up, he traveled on a board, and it was not until he came to America that he was able to acquire a wheelchair.

Despite these early trials, she explained, and perhaps because of them, he devoted his life to advocating for what are now considered disability rights, such as consumer directed personal care and mandatory wheelchair access, but were nascent concepts when he began his work in the early 1970s. This passion led him to lead the very first Independent Living Center in the state; establish Independence Today, the only nationally distributed newspaper in the country written by people with disabilities about disability rights issues; and champion the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Yet it was not only for these achievements, numerous as they are, that this new programming will be established; but also for Patricio's love of the arts, and especially of painting.

From his childhood, Patricio was creative. When he came to New York City, he attended the High School of Art and Design, and then the Parsons School, before he became heavily involved in attaining disability rights. While often consumed by life's work, he always found time to paint, and that legacy of advocacy and the arts is what Denise and the ILCHV hope to capture in these new courses, themselves but a base layer on a canvas whereon Denise and the ILCHV envisage ease of access to space and materials for creative expression for locals with disabilities-whether orthopedic, neurological, or otherwise.

Building on that vision may require some literal building. While ILCHV's new location has a third floor which could someday be an artist's loft, it is very much a work in progress, and the elevator that would provide access to that floor-and the second-is not yet wheelchair accessible. A campaign is underway to provide funding for the latter.

Not accessible to the disabled, the third floor has already been christened for creative activity.

Earlier this year, the ILCHV provided the space to artist Andrea Daley and the Italian Community Center (ICC) for the Bella Vita fresco project. Daley, the force behind the community project, traveled to Los Angeles to learn the technique of Buon fresco, and then brought it back to Troy, using the third floor loft as a space to teach it to thirty local artists.

The frescos were then displayed around the Little Italy neighborhood, and then sold at the Festa Italiana in September in support of the ICC--but not before Daley found a way to thank the ILCHV for the space.

"As a way of returning the favor, Andrea made a fresco of Pat," explained Devore.

Daley's fresco is to be unveiled Thursday at the dedication ceremony--- a gift for a gift in commemoration of a man who was known for giving of himself always.